Camp: Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Date: 22 Feb 14

Time: 5 pm

Rahul Gandhi at Congress rally in Dehardun says BJP wants to grab rights of the people

Dehradun: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday kick-started his party’s campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls

by addressing a mammoth party rally in Dehradun. While speaking on the occasion, he took on the BJP for its divisive politics and

anti-people policies.

“The opposition (BJP) is not serious about people’s pain. They indulge in divisive tactics. While Congress wants to empower

people, the opposition wants to grab people’s rights. Their aim is just to grab power by any means”, said Rahul Gandhi and also

took a dig indirectly at BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi by commenting “They think that if they get PM post, all

problems will be solved”.

He continued his attack on Modi and said, “I want to reiterate that we cannot move forward without empowering our women

across the country. Wherever there is women empowerment we can see progress there. A BJP leader talks about development

in Gujarat, but it developed because of the women there. I do not talk about myself. I do talk about women, youth and the poor.

I stress for their empowerment. If we have developed that is because of the blood and sweat of the people and not due to any

individual. He may be thinking that progress took place due to his efforts but he is wrong. It is the people who did it. Congress

will use the power of the people to build the nation”.

Slamming BJP’s double-speak on corruption, the Congress leader said, “BJP talks loud on corruption. But it was the Congress

which gave the nation the most powerful tool to fight corruption – the RTI. It was the Congress which brought Lokpal” and

added “How is RTI functioning in Gujarat? They do not have proper RTI commissioners there. It took 9 years to have a Lokayukta

in Gujarat. Even that Lokayukta is not powerful; it is highly under the control of a single person”.

Speaking on the flash floods that struck Uttarakhand last year causing major damage, Rahul Gandhi said, “When the state was

under crisis, everyone in the country stood with it. Entire India was united to help Uttarakhand – Dalits, Adivasis, Sikhs, Hindus

all were with you. I also saw the victims in Uttarakhand helping others. The people here have strength and potential. Though

some handful of people indulged in divisive ideology, the people stood as one. I had just talked to your Chief Minister and he has

assured that the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure will be completed as early as possible and I am sure that the

people will get its benefits soon. The Centre also had extended maximum help, sent Rs 7000 cr, to help flood-hit Uttarakhand”.

He also struck a chord with the Army. “Do you know who helped you the most? Not Rahul Gandhi, not the Central government

but it was the Army. We can never forget it. I am grateful to them. We realise their strength and that is why their long pending

demand for one-rank, one pension was approved by the Prime Minister and Sonia Ji” said the Congress Vice President amid

cheers from the huge crowd.

“We must listen to the people, to realise their problems. That has been the policy of the Congress. There may be some setbacks

but we will never go back from our ideology” asserted Rahul Gandhi.

Full text of the speech of Rahul Gandhi at Dehradun

Friends,

I am grateful to Uttarakhand.. I did my schooling here..Recently I was reading some works of Pt Nehru.. I was shocked to read

that he thanked English for sending him to jail as he could a learn about the world, the people during imprisonment.

Whenever you see people in pain, go to them. One must realise their pain and must try to resolve it. If we want to realise

others pain, one must set aside his aspirations, pride and pains. There is no place for anger in politics.

That is what I could learn from Uttarakhand. When the state was under crisis, everyone in the country stood with it. Entire India

was united to help Uttarakhand – Dalits, Adivasis, Sikhs, Hindus all were with you. I also saw the victims in Uttarakhand helping

others. The people here have strength and potential. Though some handful of people indulged in divisive ideology, the people

stood as one. I had just talked to your Chief Minister and he has assured that the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure

will be completed as early as possible and I am sure that the people will get its benefits soon. The Centre also had extended

maximum help, sent Rs 7000 cr, to help flood-hit Uttarakhand.

Do you know who helped you the most? Not Rahul Gandhi, not the Central government but it was the Army. We can never

forget it. I am grateful to them. We realise their strength and that is why their long pending demand for one-rank, one pension

was approved by the Prime Minister and Sonia Ji.

I am happy to see women here in large numbers. I want 50% of the members in Parliament and assemblies are also women. I

had gone to Kerala recently and I had a meeting with women. They requested me to increase the number of subsidized LPG

cylinders to 12. I had communicated this to Prime Minister and Sonia ji and I am glad that the Central government agreed with

their request and increased the number to 12.

There is 50% reservation for women in Panchayats but we want to extend the reservation for women in Parliament and

Assemblies too. We will do it. Everyone is talking about India becoming a super power. But we can never be a superpower

without empowering our women. We need to ensure that and I am there with you to fight for it.

Now I want o tell something to our youth here. The Centre has initiated a corridor which will touch Uttarakhand too. Lakhs of

youth will have new employment opportunities. In education we established new IIM, IIT and NIT here. We can explore new

avenues in tourism too.

We are soon going to face another election. We have an opposition here which talks a lot. Rajiv Gandhi had initiated

computerization. When he talked about computers, the opposition had opposed that move in the Parliament by saying that

India do not need computers. They also had said that computerization will kill jobs.

But now, after 10 years, the same opposition tries to take the credit of computerization and telecom. The reality is that they do

not have any vision; they do not have any far sighted ideas. They just deliver big speeches.

In the last ten years, we have initiated a new politics of granting rights to the people. We gave people rights in job, education,

land and in food. Several people could come out of poverty. Our next goal is to ensure people’s right in health.

There is a new class emerging – just above poverty line but below the middle class. We want to uplift them too by giving them

proper education and training. We want to listen to their issues and support them.

I want to reiterate that we cannot move forward without empowering our women across the country. Wherever there is women

empowerment we can see progress there. A BJP leader talks about development in Gujarat, but it developed because of the

women there. I do not talk about myself. I do talk about women, youth and the poor. I stress for their empowerment. If we have

developed that is because of the blood and sweat of the people and not due to any individual. He may be thinking that progress

took place due to his efforts but he is wrong. It is the people who did it. Congress will use the power of the people to build the

nation.

BJP talks loud on corruption. But it was the Congress which gave the nation the most powerful tool to fight corruption – the RTI.

It was the Congress which brought Lokpal.

How is RTI functioning in Gujarat? They do not have proper RTI commissioners there. It took 9 years to have a Lokayukta in

Gujarat. Even that Lokayukta is not powerful; it is highly under the control of a single person.

There are six anti-corruption bills pending in the Parliament. I had tried my level best to persuade the opposition to get those

bills passed. I had shared about it with media too. But the opposition showed no seriousness, instead, kept on stalling the

Parliament. We will not move back. Now we are exploring the Ordinance route.

BJP does not see the corruption of Yeddyurappa in Karnataka. The large scale corruption in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Madhya

Pradesh is not visible for them. They see only the power. They will do anything to grab power. They make people fight each

other. If we want to reform the system, we must stand as one. We want unity, not division, to progress.

I had recently met some disabled persons at India Gate. They want the bill connected with their issues to be passed by the

Parliament. The women want the passage of women reservation bill. I am here with you in your fights.

We must listen to the people, to realise their problems. That has been the policy of the Congress. There may be some setbacks

but we will never go back from our ideology.

The opposition is not serious for people’s pain. They indulge in divisive tactics. While Congress wants to empower people, the

opposition wants to grab people’s rights. Their aim is just to grab power by any means. They think that if they get PM post, all

problems will be solved.

BJP wants to finish Congress. But they do not understand the Congress’ ideology; love each other, respect others –is the vision of

India. It is ages-old ideology. Budha, Ashoka, Mahadev also had the same vision. But the opposition forgets this.

This is our battle to protect this years-old ideology. We must fight for it. No one can kill this concept and anyone tries to finish

Congress, will get finished. Congress’s vision will always remain here.

Thank you.

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